The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-17
A DINNER In THE HOUSE.
ACOMPARIsON OF IHE COMMOAS
WITH CONGRESS-.
The American Exhibition Virtually
COmpleted-The Emperor aud
the Fortune Teller.

when | whistled on my doorstep foI
q hanson cab, and, jumping in
started for the House of Commons
where l was to dine at s o'clock
Now, everybody almost who comes
to London goes to visit the House Of
Commons. Yards and yards of mat
ter descriptive of it have been writ
ten, and photographs of it are as
common as those OF Mrs. Langtry, Sc
| do not propose to dilate on the
buildings. But a dinner in the
House to an American is not So com
mon, and l am going to tell you what
it was like. We'll, as l have said, it
rained in the feline cum canine style,
and after q furious drive of half
hour, during which the cab leaked
in various places, and the bottom of
it became a small, shallow, and con-
foundedly unpleasant pond, | arrived
at the doors. l found the usual
crowd around the entrance, but a
man servant took my card in, and my
host promptly appeared, armed with
the necessary order, and |
passed into the inner and charmed
recesses. We went Immediately into
the dining room, where visitors are
allowed. 1t is the center one of
three, which opens one into the
other. 1t was, should say at a
rough guess, about 20x60 feet, with
a very high ceiling. The room was
light and warm, and the air was full
Of a ayory smell of toothsome
viands.
In few moments we were installed
in seats at small square table at
the eud of the room, and consulted
the bill of fare. You see there is no
ordering set dinners of a swell char
aeter in the restaurant at the House.
There is the carte du jour, aud you
can order what you like from it. 1t
is not long or fancitul; just some
good, plain, substantial dishes, for
1t is not intended as a place of
entertainment, but as a convenience
for members who are too busy to go
elsewhere to dine, or in case of
inclement weather. The prices
were also moderate, the cost
of slice OF roast meat, with two
vegetables, being about 30 cents. In
fact, the bill of fare was very like
that at Simpsons" in the Strand,
and scores of other places in Lon
don where they serve 80 cent din
ner from the joint. We ordered a
soup, some fish, some potes d'ho-
mdrd, roast beef, a nice fruit tart,
and cheese and salad-the most
elaborate dinner afforded by the bill
Of fare, and a bottle of extremely
good dry champagne to wash it down
with. Then | had time to look
around me. The tables were nearly
all filled with members, and they
were nearly all in morning dress.
The noise of the talking and laugh
ing filed the room, and they shouted
at each othor from table to table
with the abandon of school boys.
This | dwell upon, because as rule
in England you notice always the
extreme quiet which prevails in
restaurants and club dining rooms.
They always modulate their voices
carefully, and the conversation is
carried on in a low key.
Eating is serious business
with an Englishman, and l
have seen two young men, in even
ing dress, come into the dining room
Of my club, which is a very large one,
and set down to table to dine after
the following fashion: A few words
of suggestion, hardly worthy the
name of discussion, over what they
would eat and drink, and then eat
their way through their dinner in
silence unbrOken except by one or
two monosyllabic remarks. And yet
they were intimate friends, and were
going afterwards to a theater. In
fact, nothing truer was ever said
than that "Eoglishmen take their
pleasure sadly" and, it might be
added, slowly as well. They will get
into smoking carriages in railway
trains, and ten men, many of them
travelling in pairs, will sit for hours
in gloomy silence, and looking as if
they were all going to attend
funeral. 1t is amusing to see an
Englishman walk into a barroom
alone, call for a long drink of
whisky or brandy and soda, and
spend twenty minutes Ia slowly sip
ping it; meanwhile he studies his
boots carefully, with a most abjectly
miserable expression. Mind you, l
don't say that all Englishmen do
this. but those who do not are the ex-
septions that prove the rule.
But 10 get back to the House of
Commons. | was struck, say, by
the fact that this was not the case in
the House dining rooms. Several
men shouted out for my host to
come and join them at table in a
hearty, CHEEKY way, quite Yankee,
you know" and we finally settled
down with two men at table as l
have said. My host was a young
member Of the Conservative party,
who had succeeded his father in the
House whether for the same district
or not do not know), when his sire
was elevated to the peerage and
Joined the upper house. Our COM
panions we're, one of them, an
elderly gentleman, a member of the
Conservative government at present
in office, and middle aged
gentleman, who is one of the whips
Of the Liberal party. From that fact
you will gather, as | did, that party
opinions do not affect social rela-
tions among the members, and the
conversation around me proved that
political discussions are reserved for
the floor of the House, and by com
mon consent are not continued over
the dinner table. Taking them al
together, the men around me, whose
faces | could study to better advan-
tage here than from the visitors gal
lery, we're very representative look
ing lot. Far more so, in fact, than
the same men at the House of Rep
resentatives in dear old Washington.
l think even the Irish members
compare favOrably with their col
leagues who represent New York |
city in the House. 1t would be |